Women are at increased risk for HIV infection

Women are more at risk than men, for acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), along with other sexually transmitted diseases. This makes sense if you think about the anatomy. Women get exposed to sperm that sits in the vagina (assuming there was ejaculation) for days, where it can be absorbed through tiny scratches or tears that may be found in the vagina.

Most HIV+ women have been infected with HIV through heterosexual sex. Physically, women are more susceptible than men to HIV infection through heterosexual sex, and this fact alone means that special attention must be paid to protecting them if they are not to be disproportionately affected by the epidemic.

As in years past, politics were intertwined with science, with experts calling for more accountability and funding from world leaders — a must, they say, to turn the tide in the epidemic that has claimed more than 25 million lives. But it was prevention that was foremost in many people’s minds.

The tone was perhaps set when Microsoft founder Bill Gates kicked off the XVI International AIDS Conference here with pleas for rapid development of microbicides and other methods to give women the means to prevent new HIV infections.

Women need to take an aggressive role in making sure they protect themselves from getting sexually transmitted diseases. If you are having sex with a man that you don’t trust (can you ever trust anyone 100% ?), you need to be proactive in getting him tested and protecting yourself by using condoms. This is especially true for young adolescent women, who are having sex with men who may not be committed and tend to have multiple partners (yes, I’m talking about one night stands here.)

Men need to protect themselves as well, but the reality is that women are more susceptible. So, if you are with a man that does not want to get tested, your attitude should be, good bye and next! If someone really wants to be with you, he will do whatever it takes. That is what men do.